Politician indicted in land swap deal

Congressman could face prison, fines

February 23, 2008|By DAVID STOUT The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Rep. Rick Renzi, a Republican who represents a vast region of Arizona, has been indicted on charges of using his office to enrich himself through a complex land swap scheme, federal prosecutors announced on Friday.

The prosecutors in Phoenix said a grand jury on Thursday returned a 35-count indictment accusing Renzi, 49, and two former associates of extortion, wire fraud, money-laundering and various conspiracies that could bring many years in prison and fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars upon conviction.

The indictment asserts that Renzi was in financial trouble in 2005 "and needed a substantial infusion of funds to keep his insurance business solvent and to maintain his personal lifestyle." The congressman, who announced last August that he would not seek a fourth term, has 12 children.

Renzi used his position on the House Natural Resources Committee to shepherd legislation that would enable him and James W. Sandlin, 56, a real estate investor from Sherman, Texas, to swap tracts of property for land owned by the federal government. The deal allegedly netted Sandlin about $4.5 million.

Sandlin, who was also indicted on the extortion, fraud, money-laundering and conspiracy charges, was a heavy contributor to Renzi's first campaign in Arizona's 1st Congressional District, in 2002. The indictment said that Renzi and Sandlin concealed at least $733,000 that the congressman took for helping the land deal go through.

Renzi blatantly threatened to use his influence if he did not get his way, prosecutors charged. "congressman Renzi misused his public office by forcing a land sale that would financially benefit himself and a business associate, and in so doing, he betrayed the trust of the citizens of Arizona," said the U.S. attorney for Arizona, Diane J. Humetewa.

Renzi and another defendant, Andrew Beardall, 36, of Rockville, Md., are also accused of embezzling more than $400,000 in premiums from an account in an Arizona insurance business owned by the Renzi family to help finance Renzi's first congressional campaign.

Renzi has long denied wrongdoing and has called himself the victim of "leaked stories, conjecture and false attacks."